


Heating Up the Cold Case

by aika_max



Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: F/M, Locked In, Massage, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 14:16:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3384785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aika_max/pseuds/aika_max
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jo and Henry find themselves accidentally locked in the records room.  Henry lets his fingers do the walking, and Jo solves a cold case.  Just the normal run of the mill events on the “third date” between the detective and the medical examiner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heating Up the Cold Case

**Author's Note:**

> I was asked on Tumblr for a fic in the style of "Un-dating the ME" but with Jo/Henry.  
> My magnificent betas were idelthoughts and washingwater. Any mistakes that remain are mine.

“Henry, could you help me carry these boxes into the records room?” Jo asked as she saw the dapper Medical Examiner walk by her desk. He had just been having a closed door discussion with Lieutenant Reece, but it must not have been too horrible since Henry didn’t look affected by it.

“Are these the case files for your latest investigation?” he asked politely as he picked up one of the boxes.

Jo smiled brightly. “Yes! Wrapped up nice and tidy. I am looking forward to the long weekend I’ll have once these are put away.”

“Do you have any plans?” Henry asked with the soft, almost smiling gaze he reserved just for her.

Jo held the other box, but she rolled her neck and shoulders. “I need to go to a spa and get a massage. I have knots all over.”

“You could also do a detox for all that so-called food you eat when on stakeout,” he said.

“Don’t you start,” she said irritably as she took out her keys to unlock the door to the record room. “I’m a grown woman, and I don’t need you lecturing me.”

Henry wisely told himself to keep his mouth shut on the topic while Jo used her keys to get into the room. After the door was opened, she stood to the side of it like a fashion model showing off a Brand New Car. Henry walked in with his boxes, and tripped on something he couldn’t see.

“Henry?” she asked as she lunged in behind him to make sure he was steady. 

Jo reached for him, but he seemed to find his balance. Unfortunately, it was already too late. The door of the records room shut behind them.

“Oh, dear,” he said.

Jo jiggled the handle of the door, but it didn’t budge. Because Jo’s keys were in the lock on the other side of the door, they were stuck in the room until someone could come and let them out.

“This is probably a simple matter,” Henry said pragmatically. “Just use your cell phone and call one of the other desks.”

“That’s a great idea, Henry,” Jo said, rubbing the back of her neck in frustration. “But my phone is at my desk, and right now it’s shift change. We won’t be discovered until someone notices I’m missing or needs to get in this room.”

“And you had a long weekend coming up,” he said with understanding that they were probably stuck in the room for quite some time.

“Why don’t you carry a cell phone? It would help right now,” Jo said.

“I’m sorry, but can’t you pick the lock?” Henry asked as he remembered one of her interesting skill sets.

“No, not with this kind of lock,” she said as she pointed to the mechanism. “I don’t have the tools to remove the hinges, either.”

“We could use some ingenuity. I know Morse code--”

“Why am I not surprised?” Jo interrupted.

“I know Morse code,” Henry continued, “and we could tap out a simple SOS.”

Jo rolled her eyes. Then she rubbed at the tension digging a furrow in the middle of her forehead. She sat down on one of the chairs in the room and felt frustration at being locked in the room. She told herself she could feel bad about it for one minute and then she’d snap back into problem solving mode.

“I don’t think I can get us out of here,” Henry said, “but I could help reduce your stress.”

“What are you talking about?” Jo said with one of the looks she used to save for him when she thought he was being creepy.

“You said you were going to get a massage at a spa. I do know how to do that,” he said as he spread his fingertips in front of her. “I am a doctor.”

Henry smiled charmingly at her, and Jo couldn’t help but laugh at him. “I’m sure you played doctor with many little girls.”

He smiled at her and pointed to her blouse. “Would you undo the top few buttons? It’s purely scientific, I assure you. It just helps the skin to skin stimulation and will avoid the chafing that sometimes happen when material is in the way.”

“So you want to see me in my bra?” she asked. “I might have forgotten my cell phone, Henry, but I do still have my gun.”

Henry sighed. Then he held his hand up as if giving an oath. “I swear that if I act anything less than gentlemanly, you can shoot me. How’s that?”

“I’ll consider it,” she said, as she slowly unfastened the top two buttons of her blouse.

Henry got the other chair from the room and sat down facing Jo. He blew on his fingertips to warm them so the temperature wouldn’t shock her skin. Then he gently moved his fingers to where her neck met her shoulders. With gentle finger pressure he started rubbing there, and after a moment, Jo’s head flopped forward.

“Do you do this to a girl when you go on a date?” she asked.

He smiled as he worked. “This is more a third date ritual, I think.”

“Keep… keep doing it,” Jo said as she gave herself over to his ministrations.

“Yes, detective. I wouldn’t want you to shoot me for failing to follow directions,” he said as he slipped his fingers into her blouse to rub at her shoulders.

Henry knew quite a lot about massage and pressure points. It was more than just his medical knowledge at work. One thing he did was maintain contact with Jo’s body after he first touched her so that none of his movements would surprise her. It took a lot of trust to let someone else put hands on you, and he didn’t want to take her out of the relaxing moment by doing anything that would bother her.

“What are you humming?” Jo asked.

Henry’s fingers stilled. “I didn’t realize I was humming.”

“‘S pretty. What is it?” Jo asked before she slapped him on the thigh to continue his massage.

“‘Whither Must I Wander’” he answered with a sigh. “It’s beautiful and sad.”

“I can hear that,” Jo said. Softer, she added, “Life is like that.”

“Yes, it is,” Henry said. “Is it okay if I move closer?”

Jo nodded her acceptance with a smirk as if to say her gun was still holstered at the small of her back and she wasn’t afraid to use it.

With her permission Henry leaned into Jo so that he could reach around to other parts of her back that he had not rubbed before. Though he could have gotten up from the chair to continue the massage, he rested his head on her shoulder as he worked. It was a very comfortable action that ended up becoming an impromptu embrace. Jo eventually brought her arms up around him so they sat holding each other that way for a while.

It was so comfortable for Henry to be in Jo’s arms that he stopped and held her for a while before reminding himself where they were. They were still in the precinct. He had to act like a professional, not a man who was impressed with the smell and feel of Jo’s skin under his fingertips.

“What else would you do with someone on the third date?” Jo asked Henry once she had finally pulled out of the hug.

He looked at her so sweetly confused that they were doing third date activities. “What other things would you do? Dinner? Dancing? A movie?”

“I have done all of the above. I would be afraid of drinks or dinner in our current situation since anything that goes into the body must come out of it,” he said thoughtfully.

“That could become uncomfortable,” Jo agreed as she sat with tall posture and buttoned her blouse. “So do you want to do anything else while we wait?”

Henry looked slightly embarrassed while he avoided her gaze. That did not satisfy Jo at all.

“Spit it out!” she ordered.

“My perfect date with a beautiful and talented detective in this situation would be to solve a cold case,” he said, his inner Sherlock showing. “It’s not traditionally romantic, but intelligence is sexy.”

“So you think my ability to close a cases is sexy?” Jo prodded.

“Empirically, yes. It is,” Henry said, flashing her one of his saucy grins.

Jo stood up to fetch the box and put it away. “Well, this one is solved, so no cold case for you. But we might be able to find you one. Who knew your idea of romance was a cold case by candlelight?”

“No, the electricity works fine,” he said.

“Don’t jinx us, Henry,” Jo warned as she shelved the box.

A few minutes later, Jo came back to Henry with one box in hand. “This was one of my first cases in homicide when Mike and I became partners. We never did solve it.”

The detective sighed and reached to rub her brow again. Henry grabbed her hand before she could start. Then he encouraged her to show him the evidence so he could see the case through her eyes.

Jo and Henry kept holding hands while she showed him the documents in the file. She let go when she started to rearrange the photos of the crime scene. Her experience as a seasoned detective who had also been working with an exceptional ME came into play. They both started to buzz with excitement as the puzzle piece fell into place.

“I never understood how the killer got in the room. It’s so obvious now!” she exclaimed. “This is great!”

In her excitement over the case, Jo leaned over to press a thank you kiss on Henry’s cheek. He had guessed it was coming given the mood they were sharing, so he turned his face so her kiss would “accidentally” land on his lips.

“Henry Morgan!” she teased after she backed up from the quick kiss.

“Yes, detective?” he asked as if he was full of innocence.

“You are one sneaky bastard,” she said with a smile.

“I certainly have no idea what you’re talking about,” he answered primly.

Jo doubted that very much, but she didn’t retort. Instead, she was enticed by the sound of jingling keys in the door lock. She jumped up to run to the door with Lieutenant Reece on the other side.

“Oh, thank god!” Jo said. “I wasn’t sure how long we were going to be locked in here.”

Reece eloquently raised an eyebrow and looked around Jo to see Henry Morgan packing up a record box.

“We’ve made interesting use of our time,” he declared proudly. “Detective Martinez has solved a cold case while we were waiting for someone to let us out.”

“Of course, you did,” Reece said with the weariness that only the woman in charge could manage. “Come to my office to tell me about it.”

“Absolutely,” Jo said as she took her set of keys from Reece’s hand. “We’ll be right behind you.”

Jo held the door open with her body and let Henry pass in front of her. As she walked beside him, she whispered, “When we’re done, let’s go get something to eat. We’ll finish our third date.”

He quirked his head as if imagining something that intrigued him, and then he smiled radiantly at her. “I’d love to hear what we did on our first and second dates.”


End file.
